Trump calls US-India trade relationship one-sided; Tariff cuts come too late

Trump said that India sells a huge amount of goods to America, but American companies struggle with their products in India. He cited India’s high tariff rates as the main reason for this.

New Delhi: US President Donald Trump has made strong allegations against India regarding trade relations. He said that India has been a big customer of America for a long time, but American companies did not get enough opportunities to do business in India. Trump described this relationship as unbalanced for decades and said that recently India has proposed to reduce tariffs, but this step was taken too late.

Trump said that India sells a huge amount of goods to America, but American companies struggle with their products in India. He cited India's high tariff rates as the main reason for this. According to Trump, India is among the countries in the world that charge the highest duty, due to which American products are unable to reach the Indian market. He called it a 'completely one-sided and harmful situation'.

Trump On Truth

He worte on social meida Truth, "What few people understand is that we do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us. In other words, they sell us massive amounts of goods, their biggest “client,” but we sell them very little - Until now a totally one sided relationship, and it has been for many decades. The reason is that India has charged us, until now, such high Tariffs, the most of any country, that our businesses are unable to sell into India. It has been a totally one sided disaster! Also, India buys most of its oil and military products from Russia, very little from the U.S. They have now offered to cut their Tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late. They should have done so years ago. Just some simple facts for people to ponder!!!"

Trump also said that India meets most of its oil and defense requirements from Russia and buys less from America, which further deepens the trade imbalance. Trump said that India should have changed its trade attitude sooner, but it delayed it.

The US President said that India has now offered to reduce the tariff to zero, but this step is behind schedule. He advised the American public to think about it.

This statement of Trump indicates that tensions may increase in trade relations between India and America in the coming times. Experts believe that if the tariff dispute is not resolved, it can affect the bilateral relations between the two countries.